Overview

• On July 15, 2025, the Rome Court of Appeal cut Gabriel Natale Hjorth’s term to 10 years, 11 months and 25 days in the third appellate review of the case.
• The ruling affirmed Finnegan Lee Elder’s sentence of 15 years and two months as the material executor of the killing.
• Judges applied guidance from the Supreme Court of Cassation, which previously annulled life sentences and ordered a reassessment of officer-slaying aggravating factors and public-official resistance.
• Hjorth will serve his sentence under house arrest at his grandmother’s home in Fregene with an electronic monitoring bracelet.
• Both American nationals were convicted of murdering Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega in Rome’s Prati district during a July 2019 extortion attempt following a fake cocaine deal.